Attorney General William Barr joked about a contempt of Congress vote on Thursday.
During a farewell ceremony for his Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Barr poked fun at House Democrats.
“You like records,” Barr said at the Justice Department event, referring to Rosenstein. “This must be a record for an attorney general being proposed for contempt within a hundred days of taking office.”
WATCH: At farewell ceremony for Deputy AG Rosenstein, AG Barr jokes about how quickly he has faced a contempt vote since becoming attorney general. pic.twitter.com/UVmmcplyRm
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) May 9, 2019
After the Justice Department defied a subpoena to hand over special counsel Robert Mueller’s full, unredacted report for the Russia investigation, the House Judiciary Committee voted to cite Barr for contempt of Congress on Wednesday, but did so along party lines. Meanwhile, the White House asserted executive privilege over Mueller’s findings.
[Related: Why House contempt charges probably won’t result in punishment for Barr]
Republicans voted against the contempt resolution, arguing Democrats are seeking to drag out the Mueller probe, which found no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russians, but made no determination about whether Trump tried to obstruct the investigation.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., told the press that the United States is now in a “constitutional crisis.”
